Archive for

Subscribe

Today SpaceX successfully launched its latest mission to the International Space Station, but couldn’t reach its goal of safely landing the rocket’s first stage on a barge. According to CEO Elon Musk, while the ascent was successful, the “Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival.” There’s no video of the landing attempt yet, but hopefully soon we’ll be able to see how close it came. This outcome isn’t entirely unexpected, as Musk tweeted yesterday that the chance of a successful landing by the end of the year stands at 80 percent only because the company has so many launches planned. NASA video replaying the launch is embedded after the break.

Share this:

Like this:

Popular iOS app Workflow was today updated with support for the upcoming Apple Watch, bringing its highly useful task automation capabilities to the wrist-worn device.

For those of you unfamiliar with Workflow, it’s a powerful automation app that was first launched on iOS last December. Workflow lets users create actions and connect apps to automatically perform a huge range of tasks on the iPad or the iPhone.

Workflows can be built from a series of actions to perform tasks like making GIFs from a series of photos, creating PDFs from websites, appending content or recordings to Evernote, seeing older versions of websites, getting images from websites, and translating text on the clipboard. There are hundreds of actions that can be combined for an endless number of different workflows.

On the Apple Watch, Workflow will work in the same way, giving users one-tap access to a wide range of different timesaving actions. For example, it’ll be possible to pull up a map to the nearest coffee shop or call an Uber using Workflow. These type of quick-access actions may be particularly valuable on the Apple Watch, given its limited input methods.

One of the best features about Workflow for iOS is its included Workflow Gallery, which makes it easy for even those new to the app to download actions that are immediately useful. The same gallery feature will be available on the Apple Watch for fast access to workflows.

Workflow’s Gallery and a workflow in action Workflows can be executed by raising the Apple Watch on the wrist to turn it on and swiping up at the bottom of the screen to get to the Workflow Glance. Workflows can be run directly from the Glance portion of the Apple Watch, so accessing them will be similar to accessing an app in the Notification Center on iOS. As a reminder, Glances are quick snippets of information that are meant to be easy to access.

Third-party Glances on the Apple Watch are not interactive and do not support buttons or scrolling, so launching a workflow through the Apple Watch’s Glance view is done in a unique way. The Glance automatically scrolls through the different workflows that are available and selecting one is done by tapping on the screen.

Scrolling through workflows can be sped up with a rather unique interaction — knocking the Apple Watch against the iPhone in a pants pocket. This causes the built-in scrolling mechanism to shift to the next available workflow in the list.

Workflows from the iPhone are automatically available on the Apple Watch, including all custom-created workflows constructed from the available actions in the Workflow app. Many Apple Watch apps are somewhat limited in function due to the restricted access developers have to Apple APIs, and the same goes for Workflow.

Apple Watch workflows aren’t as full-featured as those on the iPhone — it’s not possible to run workflows that open other apps — but Handoff is supported to allow users to transfer a workflow on the Apple Watch to the iPhone.

Workflow’s Glance menu and Handoff message Workflows that involve opening apps, sending messages, or placing phone calls will all require the iPhone because developers cannot use these functions. Workflows that are not supported on the Apple Watch will direct users to use Handoff to swap over to the iPhone.

Though Apple Watch workflows can’t open apps (aside from getting directions within Maps) they can still take advantage of the same data available to many iOS apps, like calendar info, contacts, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Currently, 163 out of 226 of available actions within the Workflow app are able to run natively on the Apple Watch, so there’s still quite a lot that can be done directly on the device.

Workflow for the Apple Watch is available through an update to the Workflow app as of today, so it’ll be accessible on the Apple Watch as soon as the first devices arrive in customers’ hands.

Display technology has seen huge leaps in recent years covering all aspects of the screen. With bigger displays, sharper images, less power consumption, even screens that can bend, there appears to be little that can still surprise the average consumer. Well, it appears that there is still some areas where smartphones can make changes to keep smartphones looking as modern as ever.

The OPPO R7 Weibo is sure to be a hit with its great bezel-less display

Leaked images show the OPPO R7 Weibo to have an almost bezel-less display. As you can see from the image above, the screen is almost completely covered in glass from edge to edge. We don’t know about you, but this has us pretty excited. That alone makes the OPPO R7 Weibo worth getting (so long as it has the specs to keep up with its awesome appearance).

Display technology has seen huge leaps in recent years covering all aspects of the screen. With bigger displays, sharper images, less power consumption, even screens that can bend, there appears to be little that can still surprise the average consumer. Well, it appears that there is still some areas where smartphones can make changes to keep smartphones looking as modern as ever.

The OPPO R7 Weibo is sure to be a hit with its great bezel-less display

Leaked images show the OPPO R7 Weibo to have an almost bezel-less display. As you can see from the image above, the screen is almost completely covered in glass from edge to edge. We don’t know about you, but this has us pretty excited. That alone makes the OPPO R7 Weibo worth getting (so long as it has the specs to keep up with its awesome appearance).

The discounts for the Moto 360 smartwatch continue this week as Google slashes the price by some 35 percent. Indeed, you can go to the Google Store and grab the Motorola wearable for only $165 right now. Down from the normal $250 sticker it also includes free shipping. That’s one heck of a deal if… Read more »

And as we are wont to do, we went ahead and made a wallpaper based on the design of the invite. That means there are plenty of colorful circles and rounded squares to suit your wallpapering needs so you can look forward to WWDC 2015 in style. Are we going to see iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 there? Maybe.

In the meantime, go ahead and hit our forums at the link below (we’ve hosted them there for ease of distribution). You’ll have to register, but don’t worry, it’s a free account and you can even sign up with your Facebook, Google, or Twitter credentials. Go, download, be colorful.

Share this:

Like this:

According to T-Mobile’s support website, Android 5.0.2 Lollipop is beginning to roll out to the LG G2 today. The update, which is 617MB in size, will bring your device’s software version up to D80130b.

Among many other improvements, Lollipop brings a slew of new design and under the hood changes including a new notification panel, revamped Settings menu, Lollipop-style navigation buttons and much, much more. All of these aesthetic enhancements are based off of Google’s new Material Design guidelines. Some additional changes you might notice after the update include the new Smart Lock feature, Priority Mode notifications and actionable lock screen notifications.

T-Mobile’s update page explains that Lollipop will roll out from today until May 22nd, so if you don’t get the update just yet, you may have to wait a few days. If you’d like to check for the update manually, you can do so by heading to System settings>General>About phone>Software information>Check now. We know it’s not easy to be patient when a new software version is rolling out, but sit tight! And be sure to let us know in the comments when you receive your update.

Share this:

Like this:

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has today launched its latest budget-friendly smartphone, the Honor 4X, in the United Kingdom. The handset is available to purchase from online retailer Amazon for just £144.99 ($220), and will start shipping on April 17.

With regards to its internals, the device packs a 5.5-inch full HD display, a 1.2GHz octa-core 64-bit processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter, 4G LTE and a 3,000mAh battery.

Straight out of the box, the Honor 4X will run the latest build of Android 5.0 Lollipop skinned with the company’s Emotion user interface, which it claims put “users at the centre of the device”.

If you like the sound of the Honor 4X and want to pick one up — hit the source link below.